Singleton encouraged citizens to remember sacrifices of American service members during WWII

USS Arizona burns during attack on Pearl Harbor.

(For decades, local historian and paranormal investigator George “Buster” Singleton published a weekly newspaper column called “Somewhere in Time.” The column below, which was titled “Take time to remember Pearl Harbor” was originally published in the Dec. 4, 1997 edition of The Monroe Journal in Monroeville, Ala.)

We Americans are a forgetful and a forgiving people. A few, like myself, believe that we should keep in mind the acts of aggression that have been committed against us and remember that it could, and might, happen again.

This coming Sunday, Dec. 7, should be remembered for 56 years ago on this date an act of aggression against us set into motion a war. The intent of that war was to wipe us, the United States, from the face of the earth.

Many who read this were too young to remember that dreadful Sunday when the Japanese Empire launched the attack on our fleet that lay at anchor in the still and peaceful waters of Pearl Harbor. This peaceful Sunday morning was transformed from a day of worship and relaxation into a living hell for the members of our armed forces who were present on board the naval vessels that lay in the waters of the harbor that fateful morning.

Without warning, the morning skies grew dark with hundreds of fighter planes and bombers that swept downward, leaving death and destruction in their wake. The cries of the wounded and dying settled over the waters of the Pacific as though a giant fog of death had appeared from nowhere, as wave after wave of Japanese returned time and again to drop their loads of death upon our unsuspecting fleet.

Hundreds of our young fighting men would never see the dawn of another day. Most of them never had the chance to fight back or raise a hand against the Land of the Rising Sun. The still waters of the Pacific received the remains of those who would never see their beloved homeland again. The mothers and fathers of those who died could only guess what tragedies befell their beautiful sons. They now sleep eternally in the sunken hulls of the bombed out ships still at anchor there in Pearl Harbor.

But, the killing and the destruction did not stop at Pearl Harbor. The armies and navies of the Rising Sun continued to run roughshod over the islands of the Pacific where any Americans were to be found. Bataan, Corregidor, Gaum and several more islands fell to the guns of the Rising Sun. The atrocities that befell Allied and American prisoners taken by the Japanese was worse than death itself.

Thousands upon thousands of American and Philippine soldiers were tortured to death. No mercy was shown to the wounded and the starving as the Japanese used every sadistic way known to mankind to torture and kill those that were unlucky enough to be taken prisoner.

The Bataan Death March was to go down in the annals of history as one of the worst atrocities ever. More than 60,000 American and Filipino soldiers were taken prisoner by the Japanese Army. These poor miserable men, many suffering from wounds, starvation and mistreatment, were forced to march more than 70 miles to prison camps. More than 10,000 of these miserable souls died or were killed during this long march of death.

But, time and good living has dimmed most of the memories of this dreaded time in our history. Little thought is given to those that sleep forever in far away soil so that we may enjoy the good life of today. We turn a deaf ear to the stories of horror and the atrocities that border on the very edge of our worst imagination. Our hearts bleed for the Japanese people that are buying up our country by leaps and bounds. We spend billions for the defense of their country, while not one cent of their money is offered as payment for the destruction and death and sorrow put upon us during that dreadful war.

We hold our heads low when we are scolded for trying to export our manufactured goods to Japan. Then we sit idle when our seaports are swamped with the imported goods from the Land of the Rising Sun. Our kind and gentle nation turns a deaf ear when the news reports another billion-dollar real estate deal being silently closed by our trusted friends, as they bow politely. We lay back and enjoy the good life, while watching a television set that was made in Japan and while a Japanese-made automobile sits in our garage. Truly, truly, truly, we Americans are a forgiving and forgetful people.

So, this coming Sunday, I feel that a total of 60 seconds will be devoted to Dec. 7, 1941. A few will remember, ones like myself and some of those that are older. Some of those that survived the marches of death conducted by the armies of the Rising Sun.

I remember too well that fateful day, Monday, Dec. 8, 1941, when a general assembly was called at Sweet Water High School. I remember our principal standing before the school assembly with tears rolling down his cheeks saying, “You have slept through a night that will be remembered as long as mankind walks the face of this earth.” At that time, I thought he was right, but now, I’m not sure.

Let us not forget the thousands that sleep today in some far away land who never had the opportunity to live the good life in this wonderful country of ours. Perhaps the words of a little known poet might say it better:

When at last the Colors fade,

And the final roll call made,

The fading notes of Taps are played.

What if?

When face to face to millions slain,

For the cause of freedom’s gain,

The anguished cries, “We died in vain,

We died in vain.”

What if?

(Singleton, the author of the 1991 book “Of Foxfire and Phantom Soldiers,” passed away at the age of 79 on July 19, 2007. A longtime resident of Monroeville, he was born to Vincent William Singleton and Frances Cornelia Faile Singleton, during a late-night thunderstorm, on Dec. 14, 1927 in Marengo County, graduated from Sweet Water High School in 1946, served as a U.S. Marine paratrooper in the Korean War, worked as a riverboat deckhand, lived for a time among Apache Indians, moved to Monroe County on June 28, 1964 and served as the administrator of the Monroeville National Guard unit from June 28, 1964 to Dec. 14, 1987. He was promoted from the enlisted ranks to warrant officer in May 1972. For years, Singleton’s columns, titled “Monroe County history – Did you know?” and “Somewhere in Time” appeared in The Monroe Journal, and he wrote a lengthy series of articles about Monroe County that appeared in Alabama Life magazine. It’s believed that his first column appeared in the March 25, 1971 edition of The Monroe Journal. He is buried in Pineville Cemetery in Monroeville. The column above and all of Singleton’s other columns are available to the public through the microfilm records at the Monroe County Public Library in Monroeville. Singleton’s columns are presented here each week for research and scholarship purposes and as part of an effort to keep his work and memory alive.)